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  • “Horror of Dracula” (1958) – A Different (S)Take on Bram Stoker’s Novel, “Dracula”.

    “Horror of Dracula” (1958) – A Different (S)Take on Bram Stoker’s Novel, “Dracula”.

    I have always enjoyed Hammer Films’ “Horror Of Dracula” starring Peter Cushing as Dr. Van Helsing, vampire authority, and Christopher Lee as the undead blood sucker, Dracula. I thought the movie was a very well done horror thriller. Lee is menacing and frightening as a very strong but cold parasitic beast bent on his own survival. Cushing is magnificent as the determined and brilliant expert on folklore and the Supernatural bent on ending the vampire’s reign of terror.

    With the current pandemic raging on and being newly unemployed, I found time to finally finish Bram Stoker’s novel, “Dracula”. Now, comparing Hammers’ “Horror” with Stoker’s work, I found definite narrative differences. The Hammer film follows its own logic and twist on the story and is satisfying enough in its own right. Stoker’s work is of course The Source Material and being a 300 page novel having to be adapted by a scriptwriter for a 90 to 120 minute movie, many choice and not so choice bits are left out of the screen treatment for “Horror of Dracula”. I think these are two different visions sharing the same title character and some of the supporting players. Both versions are interesting and entertaining and it is worth investing time in reading the novel and getting a look at the original vision of author Stoker.

  • UNDER THE SKIN (2014) – Alien Invades

    UNDER THE SKIN (2014) – Alien Invades

    Very bizarre movie about an alien visitor to Scotland who assumes the form of actress Scarlett Johansson and proceeds to lure unwary men she picks up in her vehicle to their ultimate doom. Johansson lures them to her flat where they both disrobe with the promise of a sexual encounter but end up sinking into some unseen pool “holding tank” to be “consumed” later by the alien. These are some of the many arresting visuals which occur throughout this picture. I was reminded of Bowie’s “The Man Who Fell To Earth” with its tale of an alien who tries to assimilate into the human race but with tragic results. Johansson’s alien is less conventionally social and does try to adopt some of the rituals practiced by humans but cannot really make the connection. Her alien is finally victimized and destroyed by an all too human monster. Lovely outdoor scenes of Scotland abound and I came away from this movie feeling a little haunted.

  • A BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959) – ART CAN BE MURDER

    A BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959) – ART CAN BE MURDER

    This Roger Corman produced and directed film is a treat. There is a quasi-comical air about the proceedings as a lot of the action takes place in a Beat Generation inspired coffee house where poets and musicians alike share a performance stage, hang out and spout off in exaggerated artistic fashion. In the midst of this “Cool” cafe trundles waiter Walter Paisley, a loner who aspires to be creative and wants something more out of life than just busing tables for the rest of his life. Walter buys a packet of clay and tries his hand at sculpting in his seedy apartment. He becomes quickly frustrated when his efforts don’t yield anything worthwhile. To add to his frustration, the landlady’s cat has gotten itself stuck in his wall. Walter tries to create an opening in the wall for the cat to escape through but the knife he is using accidently impales and kills the cat. In order to hide his mistake, Walter decides to cover the cat’s body with his newly acquired clay complete with the protruding death knife. The result is better than he expected. Impressed by his own handiwork, Walter brings his new “sculpture” to his workplace to be shared and displayed and prove that he has artistic talent too. Walter’s work is immediately praised and allotted a degree of respect. His fans want to know what else Walter is working on and want to see it! The attention he receives is intoxicating. Walter will give the public what it wants!

    Walter doesn’t have to wait long to be freshly inspired with a new sculpture as he is tailed home by an undercover cop who works the cafe looking for illicit drug activity. The cop thinks he sees Walter involved in a drug deal and follows Walter home one evening. One thing leads to another and in the ensuing altercation, the cop is killed and Walter covers his body with the clay in the apartment. The new work gets his fanbase even more excited for more works of genius from the former busboy turned Artiste. Walter has found his Muse: Murder.

    Nice work by Corman to turn this movie from a satirical view of the Beats and their approach to Art into a rather unsettling essay about a quickly unravelling mind whose artist ruse is concealing a rabid, maladjusted psychopath. Probably Dick Miller’s best role.

  • Equinox (1970) – Ages of Evil

    Equinox (1970) – Ages of Evil

    I had memories of watching this movie at a much younger age and decided to check it out again. Luckily, You Tube has the complete movie available for viewing. I must say that it is much better watching this time from what I previously remembered.

    A geologist comes across a forbidden text which carries within it a demonic lineage and an evil spirit in human form is trying to recover said text at whatever cost. Friends of the geologist become involved in the struggle for ownership of what is probably the Book of Tobin and must deal with the evil machinations of the demon Asmodeous.

    There are a lot of nice special effects in this film such as scenes of Purgatory, reality being literally and visually warped and stop motion animation of some the Infernal nightmare monsters of Hell by Jim Danforth and Daevid Allen.

    Fantastic Saturday afternoon viewing fare!

  • The Cyclops (1957) – EYE-YI-YI!!!!

    The Cyclops (1957) – EYE-YI-YI!!!!

    To be blunt about this mess of a film, save the 90 minutes of your time and skip this movie! This movie is very repetitive and follows a clueless group of four people trying to find a missing person who ended up lost in a valley that is highly irradiated. As a result of this radiation rich zone, animals have grown to enormous proportions. There are giant hawks, an enormous snake and a titanic lizard. Oh. There is also an unfortunate quasi-human who turns out to be the missing man who is now 20 or so feet tall and whose right eye is covered over by a curiously misaligned, through the course of this turkey, flap of skin. Yeah, not much happens in this film but scenes of characters tramping through the desert locale in search of an uncommunicative and grunting disfigured giant. Dreadful!

  • (There’s Giant Ants in) THEM (1954) (Them Thar Hills!)

    (There’s Giant Ants in) THEM (1954) (Them Thar Hills!)

    A child is discovered wandering aimlessly in a desert in the Southwestern United States. Trying to locate her parents, a police investigation starts to uncover a series of abandoned and destroyed homesteads in the area. The evidence is confounding but scientists are brought onboard and their discoveries are unsettling. Could it be that an area located near nuclear testing could be harboring mutations created by the bomb blast radiation? Of course it could!

    This movie was one of many made at the time that posited that giant ants, grasshoppers, humans could be the horrific result of our dabbling with nuclear weapons, radiation, etc.

    Very atmospheric scenes in the arid, wind swept desert ensue and some of the initial inspections of the lonely, demolished habitats are genuinely creepy. A legitimate classic science fiction film from the 1950’s.

  • Eddie Van Halen, Dead At 65

    Eddie Van Halen, Dead At 65

    Guitar genius and legend, Eddie Van Halen passed away due to a long running battle with cancer. Van Halen, the band created with brother Alex, David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony, was a dominant musical force in the record charts from the late 1970’s to the mid 1980’s and then again when Roth exited and was replaced by singer Sammy Hagar during the 1990’s. A major portion of the credit for that achievement goes to the extraordinary guitar playing and writing of Eddie. Van Halen flirted between a heavy rock and pop sound and showcased the guitar histrionics that Eddie unleashed. A remarkable player who influenced so many, Eddie Van Halen was one of those rare musicians whose style was dazzling and unforgettable. One of a kind to be sure. Eddie is already missed.

  • Pete Way, R.I.P.

    Pete Way, R.I.P.

    Influential bassist, rocker, writer and musician Pete Way has passed. I am most familiar with his work with UFO, a popular British hard rock act from the “70’s to the ’90’s. Way wrote some of their most beloved songs and was a relentless stalker of the stage and theatrical performer. Way went on to found Fastway and Waysted and his Pete Way Band. Ways’ boisterous antics are the stuff of rock legend, and there are many tales, but his playing and writing have inspired a lot of people. We will all miss yet another larger than life character of Rock and Roll who is no longer with us. Pete Way, R.I.P.

  • Happy Birthday, Bruce Springsteen!

    Happy Birthday, Bruce Springsteen!

    Today is Bruce Springsteen’s birthday and we wish him many, many more. The evergreen rocker turns 71. We look forward to seeing him on the road again whenever we get a grip on this freaking pandemic. Vintage “The River” material is performed in the video. We need his live concert experience energy now!!!

  • Simeon Coxe Passes Away at 82

    Simeon Coxe Passes Away at 82

    Simeon Coxe was part of the musical duo known as The Silver Apples. He just passed away. I would not say I was previously a huge fan of their music. I thought their use of a DIY synthesizer beast and drummer combo were at times too repetitive and I wasn’t in love the singing. Listening now, I am liking what I hear more and more. I have borrowed the description below from Jon Pareles of The New York Times who describes the band:

    Silver Apples was a two-man band: Dan Taylor on drums and Mr. Coxe, billing himself simply as Simeon, playing an unwieldy proto-synthesizer that he had built himself, and that his label named the Simeon. With its debut album, called simply “Silver Apples,” in 1968, the duo presaged the minimalist repetition, drones, dissonances and unearthly electronic timbres of krautrock bands like Can, Suicide’s electro-punk, and countless synth-pop and electronic dance music efforts to come.

    Coxe was definitely an innovator. Kudos to him for his vision and his persistence in keeping the band recording and performing. Farewell!

  • Diana Rigg Passes Away

    Diana Rigg Passes Away

    Dependable British leading lady, Diana Rigg, is dead at 82. Rigg made a splash in the ’60’s as heroine Emma Peel in the iconic TV series, The Avengers. I have a fondness for her performance in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” (1969) where she temporarily became Mrs. Bond to George Lazenby’s James Bond. Also did good work as crazed thespian Vincent Price’s daughter in “Theatre of Blood” (1973). She will be missed.

  • Star Trek 6 – The Undiscovered Country (1991)

    Star Trek 6 – The Undiscovered Country (1991)

    This was the final film gathering of The Original Series Star Trek crew after a long line of cinematic adventures. Star Trek started out as a TV series but after only lasting three seasons in its original run, a devoted fanbase rallied to get the creative forces that be to realize that there was still an audience out there and, after Star Wars proved to be a box office smash, that maybe there was gold in them thar science fiction film hills. The resultant movie franchise lasted for six installments. This time out, our heroes are ordered to take a Klingon ambassador to a peace summit onboard the Enterprise. The ambassador and his escort vehicle are attacked and it looks to all the world as though the Enterprise and the very Federation has conspired in the attack. Kirk and McCoy are arrested after attempting a rescue mission onboard the Klingon ship. A kangaroo court convicts them and sends them off to a penal planet for the rest of their lives. It is up to Spock and the remaining crew to prove their innocence by finding out just who perpetrated the actual attack and save them, the Universe and the looming peace talks. Very rousing romp with a lot of character interaction reminiscent of the old TV series popping up again. There is even a symbolic round of applause for the retiring Enterprise crew toward the end of the film. Kind of brings a tear to your eye!

  • THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE – 1961

    THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE – 1961

    Climate disaster strikes in this gritty, black and white science fiction picture from Britain. The US and Russia are independently testing nuclear weapons at opposing poles in the same time frame. The resultant detonations have calamitous effects on the rotation of our planet setting it on a course a bit too close to the Sun for our own good. London experiences drastic temperature rises. The Thames dries up, looting and riots break out and panic sets in. The authorities decide on a desperate course of action: fire off a couple more nuclear devices in an effort to get the Earth back on its normal rotation. The movie ends with the detonations imminent but the final outcome not revealed. Brutal. Many similarities to our current times resonate throughout. Very enjoyable science fiction.

  • John Saxon, R.I.P.

    John Saxon, R.I.P.

    Actor John Saxon just passed away. I recently watched him in the Clint Eastwood Western, “Joe Kidd”. Nice turn. I will always remember him from “Blood Beach” where he plays a detective assigned to a case of mysterious disappearances at a local beach. He is allowed to utter, completely straight-faced, the immortal riff which borrows from the “Jaws” film legacy about people in his community having difficulty even getting to the water. Classic! A well recognized and respected actor. We are sad to see his passing.